


Sansa as Elisabeth of York

by Minita



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Sansa Stark meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:01:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29928306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minita/pseuds/Minita
Summary: GRRM gave Sansa some characteristics that remind me of Elizabeth of York. A very humble idea of a meta suggested by sansa girl.  I don’t claim to be an expert in the books or anything close to that.





	Sansa as Elisabeth of York

Elizabeth of York was the first born of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. She was born in Westminster Palace in February 1466. She gave birth to seven children, one of them will become Henry VIII.

1\. Both Elizabeth and her mother were reputed beauties, Elizabeth was tall and with beautiful “blond-red” hair and blue eyes. A nod to Catelyn and Sansa.

2\. She loved music, dancing and card games and was said to be a “serious child” since a young age. Sansa was a lady at three. 

3\. Elizabeth must have had a golden childhood but it all ended abruptly with her father’s death when she was seventeen. Her brother Edward was supposed to be crowned king, but instead, it was her uncle Richard III who took power. Elizabeth and all her siblings were declared illegitimate and her parents’ marriage annulled. The children along with her mother, had to flee and seek sanctuary in Westminster Abbey. She was a bastard for a while, like Sansa, and imprisoned, because of her claim.

4\. This I think is a parallel GRRM took straight from the history books: Elizabeth’s young brothers were in line for the throne before her, but they “disappeared” presumably, were killed. To this day historians debate who exactly was the murderer, but for decades after that, several young men claimed to be either Edward or his younger brother, true heirs to the Throne. The story was they have been swapped for peasant boys by York loyalists, and the peasant boys had been murdered in their place. This is very similar to the story of Bran and Rickon being “swapped”.

I would like to think that GRRM will give Sansa some of the happy parts of Elizabeth’s life, as he gave her some of the awful ones. She will marry and be a mother, and her marriage will bring an end to war, uniting two potential claims in one. He said himself the inspiration for the Starks were the Yorks, and the Lannisters were the Lancasters. I know he is not writing the War of the Roses exactly, but Sansa is definitely the “Rose of York”, feminine, beautiful, and born to be Queen. Humbled and insulted by her enemies but who would triumph in the end.

**Author's Note:**

> An interesting tidbit is that Elizabeth loved playing cards, and after her death, her grieving widower ordered the face on the card decks to be hers. The design hasn’t changed much throughout the centuries, even in present day decks you can still see the hood in the style she could have worn. She is the Queen of Hearts.


End file.
